


Scenes from Hyrule

by DenisDenis



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20203354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DenisDenis/pseuds/DenisDenis
Summary: Emotional short form stories I wrote while playing BOTW last winter. Link thinks about his relationship with Zelda while exploring Hyrule Castle in the first chapter, and tries to remember Mipha while exploring Upland Zorana in the second chapter.





	1. Silent Princess in a Quiet Castle

He climbed in through the window from a storm of fire, raging inferno and raining explosions narrowly avoided, a run for his life through the terribly familiar castle grounds. From the docks to the turrets, all he saw here was the disfigurement of Calamity, ruin where once was abundance and life. 

This small study was no exception. Rubble and dust covered the tiled floor, the draperies hung limp and shredded by the passage of time. The royal crest barely held onto the fabric, faded and forgotten. Crumbling pages of heavy leather-bound tomes had rotted in their shelves, and the carefully polished desk on which she used to read so passionately was now eaten away. He could only hope that a century locked in battle had not done the same to her. 

Miraculously, her journal stood there, somehow still preserved, somehow still legible. When he recognized her careful handwriting, his knees trembled. How could he have failed her so, and still be here to live with that guilt? Notes of a long-forgotten tune echoed in his head. Her lullaby… How he wished now more than ever that she could sing it again.   
Each careful turn of a page conjured more memories. The frown she made when a research problem resisted her. The beaming smile she had shown him on that sunny day in the endless fields. The sorrow that always stood there behind her eyes, a constant reminder of the task that had daunted them both.   
The task that neither of them had truly been up to. He wondered, now more than ever, if he could really do it. He was a hundred years older, but still felt like he had failed her and all their companions only yesterday. The burden felt, if possible, even heavier than before. She had loved him, and because of that, had condemned herself to a hundred years of suffering. How could she possibly forgive him? How could he possibly forgive himself? 

Turning the last page of her journal broke the spell of remembrance. For a moment, she had been close enough to touch… And now barely more than a distant voice reaching through his mind, crying out for help. He looked up to the sky, knowing that the roof of the princess’ study was undamaged, but feeling the raindrops on his face all the same.   
When he came to, daylight was almost fading away, the last rays of sunlight poured through the broken pieces of stained glass. This would be the last time either of them would be apart from each other. He was on his way, he was almost there. He would triumph over all evil, banish the darkness, die again and again, but he would never give up. Not until he defeated the horrors, the monsters, the uncertainty, the doubt, the grief, the weighted guilt that still stood between them.   
One last beam of light shone through and illuminated a corner of the study he hadn’t noticed until now. How could he have not seen it? Standing there, pristine amongst the rubble, was a single flower bloom. Perfect in every way despite the destruction it had endured. 

When it was all over, they would come here together, he thought. He would be so bold as to reach out for her hand, at last, after a hundred years, to show her that he may have doubted himself, but even in the heart of despair, he could not doubt her. Sword in hand, he stood up and crossed the door of this cherished sanctuary. His heart pounded in his chest, filled with the hopes of all his friends. A hundred years too late, and not a moment too soon.


	2. Sunrise over Upland Zorana

Some elderly Zora had coaxed him into making this trip into the mountains to collect radishes, and of course the Hero had obliged. Coming here, it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice than to go with their every whim. They remembered exactly who he was, more than he did himself, and had made it very obvious that they thought of him as a despicable failure. What else could he do but try to change their minds? As much as this felt like a complete waste of time, these elderly Zora had stories to tell that might trigger his memory, help him remember something more about who he was a hundred years ago. So here he was, clambering up mountains under the pouring rain, to pick vegetables for a person who hated his guts. 

Ankles deep in thick mud, he thought of how unreasonable this request was. The Divine Beast was still spouting dangerous amounts of water over Rutala Dam. Could they not have asked someone else to go foraging in the fields at a time like this? He decided to banish these thoughts for now. The afternoon was well past now, and he needed to find these plants before nightfall. 

The rain had not let up at all when night came and digging out the enormous wild radishes had proven challenging enough that his clothes were caked in mud. The mountain path was slick and slippery, too dangerous to tread at night. The Hero set up camp under an outcropping of rock and managed to somehow light a fire.   
As warmth came back to his soaked body, he noticed the soft glistening of the scaled arm plates he had been given. What incredible handiwork this was. He still struggled to remember who Mipha was exactly, which had left all the Zora elders scowling. In contrast, the Prince had been almost obnoxiously cheerful, throwing compliments at him almost at every bend of the river on his way upstream, posing, clapping, waving, yelling and calling out to him at moments when he’d least expected it. Who could possibly be this upbeat after the Calamity? At first, the Hero had felt some annoyance at the thought of being stalked by such an over-the-top character. Then he realized that this was the first Zora he’d met who didn’t blame him for failing the kingdom, who seemingly saw him for who he was now, rather than the failure he had been a century ago. Once he’d made his way upriver, he felt overjoyed to meet Sidon face to face. They’d shaken hands, but he could have hugged him. The relief that was brought to him by this breath of fresh air of a man was that strong. Everything was at face value, his bluntness felt refreshingly uncomplicated. 

He was all the more shocked when he learned that his new friend was Mipha’s younger brother. Then, the Prince’s good cheer revealed the hue of concealed sadness. A sister who had achieved so much at a young age, the Champion of her people, apparently stolen from them by his own shortcomings. Of course the elders blamed him. Of course, Sidon’s attitude towards him was more complex than it seemed, loaded with memory as it was. This whole region made him feel sick to his stomach, and the never-ending rain conspired with its people to weigh down his heart with guilt and sadness. Sidon could cheer all he wanted, it would ring hollow until the Divine Beast was rid of Ganon’s sinister control.   
Sidon’s declarations of friendship had been excessive, and the Hero still couldn’t tell what his feelings towards the Prince were. Most of all, he couldn’t pull apart the relief and joy from the sadness. He resented this promise for all the expectations it held, but also cherished it for all the courage and love it had taken to even exist. Maybe Sidon’s promise had been made in the same way: grief and adoration intertwined, losing their meaning once viewed separately. 

The Hero wished, just like the Princess before him, that there was more time for all of this. The urgency of his destined path meant he would not be able to have the long conversations he wished he could have with Prince Sidon. At the very least, they would fight together in the upcoming battle. Hopefully, actions would then speak loud enough to say what he wished he could put into words. 

Hugging his arms around him, the Hero was starting to feel the windchill despite the fire. The scales of his tunic clicked gently. How unnerving to be presented with an outfit that fit him perfectly, and still have no recollection of its maker. Failure really didn’t seem like an option with this on. The rain still fell on and on, drowning out sound, color, and feeling from the entire landscape.

Dawn came unremarkably, a gradual increase in visibility under the unending downpour. This sleepless night by the campfire had taken its toll on him. He made his way down the mountain and back to the town in decidedly dour spirits. He wondered still if the Champions’ spirits had survived inside their Beasts. He even dared to hope that some of them might still be alive, held like the Princess in a suspended time of endless strife. He wondered what it would be like, to finally meet this Mipha who had loved him so. He wondered if he’d loved her back, and what life they may have had together if their destinies had been different. No, he reasoned. If their destinies had been even slightly different, most likely they would have never met, and even though there would not have been anything to forget, there wouldn’t be anything to remember, either. 

Notes of a sad, distant melody echoed in his head. And as the last tones rang and faded away, he heard the Divine Beast in the distance let out an anguished wail. For just a few minutes, it stopped spouting water from its trunk. Time enough for the clouds to part, and a single ray of sunlight to dapple the face of the cliffs.   
She’d sent him a sign, he was certain of it now. No matter how damaged they both were, no matter how little he remembered, she would be glad to see him again. Radishes still in hand, soaked through to the bone, the Hero took heart as the brief ray of sunlight was extinguished, and the downpour started again. Soon now… I’ll remember your face again.


End file.
